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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Fats / Safflower Oil: Why This Fat Is On the Naughty List

Safflower Oil: Why This Fat Is On the Naughty List

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Uses of Safflower
  • The Rise of Safflower Seed Oil
  • Smoke Point
  • Fatty Acid Profile of Safflower Oil
  • Low Oleic vs High Oleic Safflower Oil
  • Health Benefits of Safflower Oil
  • CLA Safflower Oil Study
  • CLA Safflower Oil Diet
  • Safflower Oil for Weight Loss?
  • CLA Safflower Oil Supplements 
  • Skip the Saffola Oil

safflower oil in a bottle

Safflower oil is one of the most widely available and popular vegetable oils on the planet. In India, food manufacturers market it as saffola oil, which is a blend of safflower and rice bran oil. Sometimes edible oil companies blend in soy oil as well.

In North America, safflower is available in both low oleic and high oleic form. This adds to consumer confusion much like the situation with sunflower oil.  It is my view that manufacturers pull this stunt purposely. A bewildered consumer is more compliant and tends to be easily lured into repetitive and often mindless food shopping.

A nonthinking consumer is Big Food’s ideal customer.

Uses of Safflower

Despite its rapid rise to fame as modern cooking oil, safflower itself is actually one of the world’s oldest known crops, dating back to ancient Egypt circa 4000 BC.

Ancient writing tablets of the time reveal that Egyptians used what they called “white safflower” and “red safflower.” The distinction comes from the two useful parts of the plant: the pale seeds (white safflower) and the red florets (red safflowers). These first cultivators used colorful flowers as a clothing dye.

Historical applications for the versatile plant in China are twofold. First, the florets flavor soup and rice dishes. Secondly, holistic healers use the safflower herb medicinally to “invigorate blood”. Applied to traumatic injuries as a poultice, it facilitates healing and reduces pain. Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) also prescribe it as a tea for the treatment of fevers and reduction of phlegm. (1)

Today, safflower commonly substitutes for the sought after saffron spice. In Europe, the prevalence of this practice earned it the name “false saffron”. This is similar to the controversy surrounding true cinnamon.

It is convenient for restaurants and consumers to substitute safflower for dishes such as saffron rice because saffron is the most expensive spice in the world followed by vanilla.

The Rise of Safflower Seed Oil

While safflower is a longtime crop for food, medicine and other uses in human history, the oil is most definitely not.

The pale seeds from the safflower plant are the source of its edible oil. Commercially, manufacturers expeller press or extract the oil with toxic solvents. Some may use a combination of the two methods. Hence, safflower oil is very much an industrialized food with production processes similar to hemp seed oil, grapeseed oil, and others.

The modern experimentation of pressing safflower seeds for their oil began in 1925 in the Midwest. However, oil manufacturers did not devise a profitable extraction method until three decades later. At that time, the production of safflower oil moved to the Western United States and parts of the Western Canadian provinces.

California is the king of safflower oil in the United States today, producing nearly half of the total. North Dakota and Montana are a distant second and third.

The oil’s popularity began to grow in the 1960s about the same time as the now scientifically disproven assertion that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease.

Hence, the pressing of seeds for vegetable oil gained popularity as an alternative to butter in the 1960s. (2)

It remains popular today. Many processed foods now contain safflower oil, accompanied by dubious claims about health benefits. It is an especially popular oil in USDA organic processed foods, as more health-conscious consumers seek alternatives to pesticide-laced and usually GMO soy, cottonseed, and canola oils in cheaper supermarket foods.

But are they, in fact, getting anything remotely healthier?

Smoke Point

The smoke point of refined safflower oil comes in at 510 F/266 C. This is extremely high and an attractive characteristic for food manufacturers.

The only fat that has a higher smoke point is refined avocado oil (520 F/271 C). Avocado oil is far more healthful, however. While some forms of refined safflower oil are dangerously high in inflammation-inducing polyunsaturated fat, avocado oil is highest in monounsaturated fat.

On the other hand, unrefined and cold-pressed safflower oil has a smoke point that is quite low at 225 F/105C. Semi-refined safflower oil  is not much higher with a smoke point of 320 F/160 C. (3)

Fatty Acid Profile of Safflower Oil

The fatty acid profile of safflower oil is extremely confusing. Note the extremely wide range of each type. (4, 5)

  • Monounsaturated: (oleic acid omega-9) 13-75%
  • Polyunsaturated: (linoleic acid omega-6) 14-79%
  • Saturated: (palmitic acid) 4-10%

The reason the ranges of fatty acids in safflower oil are so broad is because of the different types. Some are high in monounsaturated oleic acid. The name for this variety is high oleic safflower oil.

Others are highest in polyunsaturated linoleic acid. Manufacturers label them as low oleic or high linoleic safflower oils.

This begs the question, which safflower seed oil should you use if any?

Low Oleic vs High Oleic Safflower Oil

Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid. Thus, high oleic safflower oil contains mostly monounsaturated (omega-9) fat.

Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid, hence high linoleic safflower oil is high in polyunsaturated fat and low oleic.

If you are wondering which is better, the answer is ideally neither.

You see, safflower oil from heirloom safflower seeds is naturally low oleic. However, as consumers have wised up to the inflammatory potential of consuming these fats in excess, manufacturers created hybrid safflower whose seeds are high oleic with a fatty acid profile closer to olive oil.

Even the ultra-cheap mega-bottles of safflower oil at Wal-Mart are now high oleic.

So, should you consume high oleic safflower oil? Not really, as it is just as industrialized as its low oleic cousin.

Of course, as with any seed oils, cold-pressed, unrefined and organic is the ONLY way to go. There are few brands currently that fit this description with Eden Foods safflower oil one of the best as of this writing.

But, if you really want to consume a healthy, high oleic oil that is nonhybridized, a traditional source would be preferable such as extra virgin olive oil!

I personally am highly skeptical of healthier living through chemistry and industrialized farming. If you feel the same, then skip the safflower oil.

Health Benefits of Safflower Oil

If you google the health benefits of safflower oil, you will find many articles that glowingly espouse its virtues. The truth is, this is just science for sale!

First of all, there are no health benefits to consuming modern refined oils. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The high heat processing destroys anything that might be beneficial including any phenols in high oleic versions.

For safflower oil to have any benefit in the diet whatsoever, it must be cold-pressed and unrefined. However, even in this state, safflower oil isn’t the best choice for an informed consumer.

The truth is that the research backing safflower oil is dubious at best. It certainly doesn’t supplant the decades of research and thousands of years of beneficial use of extra virgin olive oil.

Let’s take a look at one of the most prominent of these questionable studies.

CLA Safflower Oil Study

A common tactic researchers use when conducting science for sale study is to pair the food being studied with another food that they already know triggers the desired health benefits. Thus, they can stealthily attribute any positive effects to the newly studied food when they actually accrue from the companion food. Incidentally, Big Pharma pulls similar types of research stunts, but that is another article for another day!

Shockingly, the highly rated, peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Nutrition published this type of flawed study. At first glance, the study is quite promising. It is a randomized trial of the effects of safflower oil consumption in fifty-five obese, post-menopausal women with type 2 diabetes. Thirty-five of the women completed the study. They consumed eight grams daily of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and high linoleic (low oleic) safflower oil for 16 weeks each.

The results of the study claim that the dietary intake of 8 grams of safflower oil (SAF) per day for 16 weeks improved glycemia, inflammation, and blood lipids, exactly as the researchers initially hypothesized.

Imagine that?

No diet or exercise accompanied this supplementation either.

Sounds too good to be true right? Are you ready to run out to the store and load up the pantry with safflower oil? Hold your horses.

CLA Safflower Oil Diet

Reading the study more closely beyond the sound bite, made for TV conclusion reveals that along with safflower oil, the patients consumed the same amount (8-gram doses) of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Grass-fed beef and butter are excellent sources of this incredibly beneficial fatty acid. And yes, you guessed it. CLA improves lean body mass and blood work related to metabolic syndrome.

However, the researchers attribute no health effects to the CLA. They simply conclude the following:

We conclude that eight grams of SAF [safflower oil] daily improved glycemia, inflammation, and blood lipids indicating that small changes in dietary fat quality may augment diabetes treatments to improve risk factors for diabetes-related complications. (6)

At least three experts have called out the scam, which has not surprisingly given rise to the safflower oil weight loss diet and numerous safflower oil supplements. Paid spokespersons have pumped at least one of these on popular health talk shows like Dr. Oz.

Safflower Oil for Weight Loss?

Dr. Mark Cook from the University of Wisconsin took issue with the results by pointing out that in his own similar experiments, vegetable oil like safflower is used as the negative control! Replacing only 5-10% of vegetable oil consumption with CLA improves fat accumulation and inflammation substantially.

He goes on to say that if the oil from safflower seeds has any positive effects whatsoever on body composition, it is very small in comparison to the effects of CLA.

Dr. Michael Pariza, the founder of the field of CLA research, concurs. He suggests that linoleic acid, the major fatty acid in safflower oil, is the control in the study. Its weight loss and inflammation-reducing benefits are clearly not as potent as CLA.

Another problem with the study is that even though randomized, it is not placebo-controlled. Dr. H. Keizer of Stepan Lipid Nutrition, points out this glaring oversight, commenting that “we have no idea what a placebo would have done” with regard to the results of the study in question. (7)

CLA Safflower Oil Supplements 

I noticed something even more ironic when examining a few of the CLA safflower oil supplements currently on the market seemingly spawned by this (intentionally?) misleading study. The type of oil in these supplements isn’t even the type used in the research!

That’s right, the study used low oleic safflower oil plus CLA and the supplements use high oleic safflower oil and CLA. This lends even further credibility to the assertion that CLA is the beneficial fat in these supplements, not SAF.

No wonder consumers’ heads are spinning with regard to this supposedly healthy oil!

Skip the Saffola Oil

In sum, whether you are living in India where brightly colored bottles of blended saffola oil are sadly gaining market share over healthy traditional choices like ghee or here in the USA where researchers misleadingly credit safflower oil for health benefits actually traceable to conjugated linoleic acid, it is best to steer clear of this industrialized darling.

Safflower oil is neither a traditional fat nor a modern panacea to help beat back the scourges of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation.

No matter if low oleic or high oleic, it is a food with little nutrition and dubious health benefits. Wise consumers well versed in healthy fats ensure that it plays little to no role in their diet.

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Category: Healthy Fats
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (24)

  1. Cat

    Dec 27, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    Sarah – apparently olive oil has twice as much plain old saturated fat than safflower oil. Can you comment? Thanks for a great article!

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Dec 27, 2018 at 2:49 pm

      Olive oil has hardly very little saturated fat in it. It is mostly monounsaturated fat (~70%) with about 20% polyunsaturated fat and only about 10% saturated.

  2. Maria Carmen King

    Dec 14, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    Hello Sarah, thank you for such a great article on sunflower oil. I am wondering, is sunflower lecithin a better form? I have seen it in various health products. Thanks again.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Dec 15, 2018 at 1:22 pm

      Yes, sunflower lecithin is better than other forms. Here’s an article on that. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/lecithin/

  3. Sarah

    Oct 29, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    What type of oil do you recommend for high heat cooking? Thanks in advance for your help!

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Oct 29, 2018 at 2:46 pm

      As mentioned and linked in the article, avocado oil or ghee are two of the best.

  4. Bianca

    Jun 3, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    My heritage, Italian, has always used olive oil on our skin. There is so much hype and confusion about everything these days.
    I like keeping everything simple. I can definitely recommend Rose Hip Oil (plus I add a few drops of Aveda Hydrating lotion) for your skin… It’s fantastic. Good article on Safflower oil, Sarah…. I never, ever use it !

    Reply
  5. Angie

    Jun 1, 2018 at 8:22 am

    What about using Safflower oil on your skin, in creams and lotions?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Jun 1, 2018 at 10:28 am

      Skin usage isn’t a problem, but I would consider extra virgin olive oil or argan oil instead.

  6. SUSAN

    Jun 1, 2018 at 1:55 am

    Is refined avocado oil alright to use, or just the unrefined?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Jun 1, 2018 at 7:40 am

      Refined avocado oil is not going to harm you, but it lacks the beneficial phenols and co-factors present in unrefined avocado oil. I would suggest buying unrefined. Here’s the brand I use. https://amzn.to/2sz2xWl

  7. Ruby Garcia

    May 31, 2018 at 11:39 pm

    Hi Sarah! In the oral vitamin k you link in one of your other blog posts, I noticed it states one of the ingredients as safflower oil. Would you still
    recommend this oral vitamin k? If not, any other recommendations? I’m trying to find one to be prepared before the birth of my baby.

    Kindly,

    Ruby

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Jun 1, 2018 at 7:40 am

      The very small amount used in supplements would be fine.

  8. michael

    May 30, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    I have been buying organic Safflower oil found in health food stores for saute’ing. Lately its one of the different offerings for high heat oils. Can you recommend better high heat oils for saute’ing?
    I am intending to switch to organic refined Coconut oil for high heat oil. Would it be better to use unrefined oganic Coconut oil?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      May 30, 2018 at 9:21 pm

      I like avocado oil best for a saute.

  9. Deborah Hopper

    May 30, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    OMG I am so glad you have brought up this topic about Safflower oil, I recently tried CLA-Safflower oil capsules for weight-loss, I didn’t lose any weight only water weight, and I did have some swelling in my legs, which the ClA-safflower did take away all swelling and my legs became thinner, but to my surprise this came with a big side-effect, after a week of using them I started having muscle spasm from my neck all the way down to my feet, I finally had to go to the ER and get an muscle relaxer injection, so no more CLA-Safflower oil for me.

    Reply
  10. Saanvi

    May 23, 2018 at 9:29 am

    I live in India and use saffola. It fries everything very nice and much cheaper than ghee. I felt inside that it wasn’t good. I will use ghee again like my parents.

    Reply
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